Walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela: Day 22

Day 22 - Tuesday, 13th May, 2014 - 22.2 km

[Eila now satisfied with her old backpack - Leon Alburgue]

[The Team - Jeff, Eila, Michael and Rupert - Leon sign opposite the Cathedral]

We set off from Leon after a night in the Convent Dormitory. It had been a noisy night and the German gentleman in the bunk above me had laughed when he got up. "top bunks are sheet". He said "I always have to sleep in a top bunk because I am always late to the Alburgue!" I said "But you are athletic, you have learned the forward decent from the bunk, the parachute method". He replied in a bit of a grumble "Yes I am very athletic!"

Dormitory life the previous evening had been like a prep school boys dormitory adjusted for much older boys. One of the Italian cyclists had fallen from his top bunk onto the floor with a loud crash. He could really have hurt himself, but his compatriots were killing themselves with laughter. The moment we had lights out the members of the male segregated dormitory started to snore and those still awake started to snigger knowing that this would not be a night for getting quality sleep. Many on the top bunks seem to be on Facebook and emails on the Samsungs, or iPhones and the dormitory was generally interrupted by whistles and 'trings' as emails and texts came in on the airwaves! It was chaos and as I said, bad prep school behaviour adjusted for bad male adults!

Michael had decided that there was a reasonable dental service in Leon and had been recommended by Andy the American, who had a chipped tooth sorted out. So he had arranged to have a dental appointment at midday. The rest of us were torn. Should we stay and accompany him after his appointment, or should we go ahead and secure accommodation? In the end we decided on the latter. Eila, Jeff and I set of for Vilar de Mazarife leaving Michael to wait for his dental appointment.

We stopped of at Virgen del Camino on the last outskirts of Leon. The area is marked by a modern church, which I had previously been rude about. It's steeple looked like something you might find in modern Portsmouth, or maybe a mobile phone mast, but as I considered it again this year it grew on me. Eila and I decide to venture inside and found a very modern church, almost like a cinema with the most splendid Baroque Rearados, if that is the right word. The rear of the altar was gold and from a different era. The contrast of the modern and the old was fantastic and gave the church the atmosphere of calm that made you happy to stay there indefinitely. The priest was very welcoming and insisted that we had our Pilgrim passport stamped to verify that we had visited the church. While we were there, instead of the usual plainsong, or church music, the music played was an orchestral version of John Lennon's "Image" and Simon and Garfunkle's "Scarborough Fair", which seemed appropriate.

We continued on to Vilar de Masarife and found places in the private Alburgue there, hoping that Michael would make it after his dental appointment. I took the opportunity to wash all my clothes and in the spirit of my cousin Matthew, sunned myself in the garden pretending that my silver coloured boxer shorts were in fact swimming trunks, when they clearly weren't! No one seemed to notice. At least I didn't think they did.

Michael did arrive in good time for supper and we have reviewed our timetable so that we have less mileage to do over the next days to prepare for the crossing of the mountains into Galicia.

The same German pilgrim met me by the entrance and said "I have the bottom bunk, but if you like, you can sleep above me on the top bunk, I think!"

Buen Camino.